And I have to say, I'm glad I tried this on a "made in China" truckstop special. ( 4inch Trapper) But I gotta say, for something thats supposed to be so cheaply built, it was hell getting it apart. The cover pins were easy, I actually pried the covers off over them. (note to self,..... I should have stopped there)
The bolster pins were completely hidden. The bolsters had been sanded and polished to the point where you couldn't see the pin indentions at all. I hit the bolsters with 3600 grit, then slapped a bit of oil on them, and the pins showed up.
Since one of the blades is nicked all to heck, I'm going to try slapping it back together as a single slip joint.
Pictures of the carnage to follow......
Just disemboweled my first knife......
Just disemboweled my first knife......
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Re: Just disemboweled my first knife......
"disemboweled"? Never heard it put that way before, but it's as good a description as any and frankly gave me a good chuckle. I usually Dremel out the center pin which holds tension on the backspring as my very first course of action, but have seen the tutorials by Muskrat Man and Orvet and their methods, while different, are clean and effective (Note to everyone: Tons of respect for both of these guys!). By "Dremel out" I mean that I use the Dremel to remove the head on one side so that I can drive the center pin out. Rather than cutting the bolster pins, I've ground a small but wide (1/2") chisel to a razor thin edge and slip it in between the blade being removed and the center liner. This keeps the parts being reused from getting scarred and lets one side start to slip out of the bolster, hopefully leaving the pin in the other bolster to be reused since the knife is being slimmed down.
I've done a ton of Case Trappers this way to get rid of that useless spey blade and the slim profile makes the knife more pocket friendly. While you may or may not have needed any of this information, I thought I'd pass it along for you and others to demonstrate an alternative way to disembowel a knife. Best of luck on the project and most of all here's hoping it's fun.
I've done a ton of Case Trappers this way to get rid of that useless spey blade and the slim profile makes the knife more pocket friendly. While you may or may not have needed any of this information, I thought I'd pass it along for you and others to demonstrate an alternative way to disembowel a knife. Best of luck on the project and most of all here's hoping it's fun.
Re: Just disemboweled my first knife......
Thanks Elvis !
Just like anything else in my life, (cars, bikes, guitars, etc....) I'm never satisfied with the factory build. I've been doing the Tim the Toolman thing on practically everything in the house ever since I was a kid. This is just my practice try, so I don't seriously screw up a decent USA knife
I used the Dremel to cut the cover pins free, and I followed MM's step by step tutorial on the rest. Like I said though, those bolster pins were hidden pretty good. I'll have to try your pry method from the inside next time. Of course, I don't think next time I'll be working on anything where I can't "see" the bolster pins. All my USA knives, I can clearly see the outline of the bolster pins.
After
Just like anything else in my life, (cars, bikes, guitars, etc....) I'm never satisfied with the factory build. I've been doing the Tim the Toolman thing on practically everything in the house ever since I was a kid. This is just my practice try, so I don't seriously screw up a decent USA knife
I used the Dremel to cut the cover pins free, and I followed MM's step by step tutorial on the rest. Like I said though, those bolster pins were hidden pretty good. I'll have to try your pry method from the inside next time. Of course, I don't think next time I'll be working on anything where I can't "see" the bolster pins. All my USA knives, I can clearly see the outline of the bolster pins.
After
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Re: Just disemboweled my first knife......
what I do is remove the center rocker pin first, then the front and rear bolster pins, then the remaining pins in the scales can
be drilled out from the back and the scales then fall off.
If it's a spun center/rocker pin, you can grind it down a bit and if it's a bigger pin, drill a pilot hole and use a pin punch to pop that baby out.
It can be a pain in the rear finding the pins in the bolsters. What I do is if I am not going to work on it right away is to clean the bolsters with alcohol or acetone to remove wax etc and then allow the brass/NS to tarnish, once it tarnishes a bit you can clearly see the pins.
On the smaller knifes using a razor blade and a mallet works well as MM and Orvet do.
Good luck
be drilled out from the back and the scales then fall off.
If it's a spun center/rocker pin, you can grind it down a bit and if it's a bigger pin, drill a pilot hole and use a pin punch to pop that baby out.
It can be a pain in the rear finding the pins in the bolsters. What I do is if I am not going to work on it right away is to clean the bolsters with alcohol or acetone to remove wax etc and then allow the brass/NS to tarnish, once it tarnishes a bit you can clearly see the pins.
On the smaller knifes using a razor blade and a mallet works well as MM and Orvet do.
Good luck
Re: Just disemboweled my first knife......
I'm going with walnut for the new side covers, simply because...... thats what I have on hand
Question is - can I just use the front bolsters, and extend the walnut covers to the back, and eliminate the rear bolsters ? Is the walnut strong enough ? Basically it's like this, i buggered the hell out of one of the rear bolsters whilst whacking the pin out,.......... so I need to cover up my mistake.
I've got rosewood, and oak if needed, but I thought the walnut would look better. But I'll go with the best strength choice if need be.
Does the rear take more stress, or the rocker pin ?
TJ
Question is - can I just use the front bolsters, and extend the walnut covers to the back, and eliminate the rear bolsters ? Is the walnut strong enough ? Basically it's like this, i buggered the hell out of one of the rear bolsters whilst whacking the pin out,.......... so I need to cover up my mistake.
I've got rosewood, and oak if needed, but I thought the walnut would look better. But I'll go with the best strength choice if need be.
Does the rear take more stress, or the rocker pin ?
TJ
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Re: Just disemboweled my first knife......
Just sand out the damage on the rear bolster, start with 220 and go up to 400 and then buff it with whit compound.Toejammer wrote:I'm going with walnut for the new side covers, simply because...... thats what I have on hand
Question is - can I just use the front bolsters, and extend the walnut covers to the back, and eliminate the rear bolsters ? Is the walnut strong enough ? Basically it's like this, i buggered the hell out of one of the rear bolsters whilst whacking the pin out,.......... so I need to cover up my mistake.
I've got rosewood, and oak if needed, but I thought the walnut would look better. But I'll go with the best strength choice if need be.
Does the rear take more stress, or the rocker pin ?
TJ
From your pics the damage to the bolsters does not look that bad. I have sanded out stuff in a a LB7 that was much worse than that. You just end up with slightly thinner bolsters and it's not even noticeable.
If it's that bad you could also make a new one from some nickel silver plate. Nickel silver and brass is very soft and you can easily form it with files.
you could also extend the scales like you mentioned without issue. Walnut is a bit soft but it should work.